Augmented Reality in e-commerces
AR in e-commerce; Elephant in the Room
There’s No Happy Rerun in e-commerce
According to a hubspot survey, a quarter of all consumers return 5% to 15% of the items they buy online. Imagine you have bought a set of furniture and upon the arrival you realize that the color of the sofa doesn’t match the carpets or drapes. Most of would immediately start the process of return but sometimes the cost of returning these items are so high that the online seller prefers to return the money and let you keep the items. That is why companies like IKEA have developed AR solution to boost customer engagement and reduce return rate. In 2017, IKEA Place app was created to allow shoppers to place thousands of items in their homes with 98% accuracy and eliminate wrong order placement and loss of revenue. Needless to point out, this solution brings the funness of online shopping up to a whole new level!
A study conducted by invespcro.com should that 30% of the items ordered online are returned while for brick-and-mortar stores this figure is 8.89%. The reason behind 23% of the return was declared to be recieving the wrong product and 22% of items were returned because they look different than what expected. Using augmented reality plays an undeniable role to reduce the cost on businesses.
A Stairway to High Conversion Rate
According to AR application statistics, having an augmented reality function can grow CR up to 42%. Also, the customer engagement rate with 3D images is almost 40% higher than that of 2Ds. Therefore, using can help you attract more customers and keep them longer on your website. These statistics wouldn’t surprise if you’re already familiar with AR application; once again, it is really fun to work with augmented reality application. Plus, most of the young have a soft spot for trying new things and AR is definitely one of the a new big things.
As shown by a study in 2020, 15% percent of the US population used AR at least once per month. This stat give us a pick into the future of customer expectations.
AR and the Never-changing Game of Hot and Cold
Effective merchandising is the process of identifying the hot spots that give the items the visibility they need. After all, nothing suits the customer like a fist-hand try-on. Using augmented reality, we can hugely benefit from showcasing 3D models of the product in action. In today’s e-commerce, only reading about a product doesn’t persuade a potential user to become a customer, that’s where using an interactive module and a try-on feature goes a long way.
When COVID-19 became widespread lockdown made many businesses to close and many people were forced to shop online. This changed the behavior of the customer up to the point where 67% of the customers have changed their shopping behavior. It was a challenge to the retailers too; not just by supporting more online sales, but by taking on modern technologies like Augmented Reality that strengthen connections with customers and made them experience convenient shopping process. It has always been a problem for retailers to show the exact look and feel of a certain item and as the market of AR is growing to overcome this issue, those business with no eye for these technologies come up short in competition.
